15 



S pi cu les. The spicules are all slender, curved or bent spindles, much as in the preceding 

 species. Not infrequently, however, they are doubly curved so as to resemble a cupid's bow, and 

 occasionally a triradiate form is seen. The spicules in the calyx walls are arranged en chevron 

 but there are also a number of spindles of large size that are more nearly perpendicular than 

 in the preceding species, their upper ends projecting freely from the ccenenchyma, givino- a 

 spiked appearance that is very marked, especially in a dried specimen. 



Color. The specimen described is an obscurely vinaceous dark brown. Another specimen 

 from the same station is much smaller and is apparently a younger colony. The calyces are 

 considerably shorter, but they approximate the size of the larger specimen on the proximal parts 

 of the colony. 



General distribution. The specimen described by Ridley was found in Blanche 

 Bay, New Britain, at a depth of 40 fathoms. 



4. Acanthogorgia aspera Pourtalès. 



Acanthogorgia aspera Pourtalès. Fauna of the Gulf Stream, 1868, p. 113. 



Acanthogorgia aspera Verril]. Buil. Mus. Comp. Zool., Vol. XI, N° 1, 1883, p. ^t,. 



? Acanthogorgia aspera Hedlund. Einige Muriceides, Museum Upsala, 1890, p. 3. 



Acanthogorgia aspera Studer. Alcyonaires de 1'Hirondelle, 1901, p. 44. 



Stat. 122. i°58'.SN., 125 0.5 E. Celebes Sea. 1264 meters. Stony. 



Stat. 289. 9 0.3 S-, I2Ó°24'.5 E. Timor Sea. 112 meters. Mud, sand and shells. 



Colony (incomplete) roughly flabellate in form, 12 cm. in height and with a spread of 

 about 5 cm. The main stem and lower portions of the main branches are entirely denuded of 

 ccenenchyma. The stem forks into two portions about 2 cm. from its base. One of the resulting 

 branches is undivided and denuded. The other grives off a number of lateral branchlets none 

 of which again divides. The average distance between branchlets is about 4 mm. The calyces 

 are set on all sides of the branches, being more crowded, as usual, on the terminal twigs, 

 where they are often contiguous but sometimes as much as 1 mm. apart. 



The individual calyces are columnar in form, a typical one measuring 2,5 mm. in height 

 and 1,1 mm. in diamter, the length of the exposed part of the spicules of the crown being 

 sometimes as much as 1,75 mm. Two or three spindles often form a single crown point. The 

 caiycular walls are filled with spicules arranged en chevron, the points seldom projecting to 

 any appreciable extent beyond the body wall. The calyces vary greatly in shape, as is usual 

 in this genus, according to age and extent of retraction. 



Spicules. These are almost all slender curved spindles, those forming the crown being 

 typical of the genus, having very straight smooth acute points, and a relatively much shorter 

 basal part, bent at an angle and roughly tuberculate and even branched. The ccenenchyma is 

 filled with very slender curved spindles, more delicate than in most species of this genus, those 

 in the stem and branches being longitudinally arranged. 



Color. The colony is very light yellowish brown. The axis is golden yellow brown, 

 and the spicules are colorless. 



